Suppressed by All My Childish Fears
by ARPfics
Summary: His whole life, Puck has only been scared of one thing, and his name was Artie Abrams.


**A/N: So I got this idea from the thought that everybody's scared of Puck, so Puck must be scared of something, right? Well, we shall see. Reviews are love. :D**

* * *

"Bang, bang. I'll shoot you dead." Puck smiled, trailing after Finn with his gun. Getting a clear shot over the see-saw, he sent a stream of water flying. Finn ran away, ignoring the hit. "Hey, that's not fair. You're dead, Finn."

Finn turned around with a sly smile. He pulled up his own gun and sent a huge gush of water right into Puck's chest. Puck clutched his shirt and staggered back dramatically. He opened his mouth the complain, but Finn beat him to it. "Hey, watch out!"

Confused, Puck looked around and completely lost his balance - right into that kid who had just come back to school in a wheelchair. Helpless, he tumbled over the small boy, knocking him out of his chair. Puck looked down wildly at the mess he'd made. Oh man, he'd probably hurt the other boy... Puck couldn't make himself stay to find out what he'd done.

He ran away in fear.

* * *

_I'm so tired of being here, suppressed by all my childish fears_

_And if you have to leave, I wish that you would just leave_

_Your presence still lingers here and it won't leave me alone_

_These wounds won't seem to heal, this pain is just too real_

_There's just too much that time cannot erase._

_When you cried, I'd wipe away all of your tears_

_When you'd scream, I'd fight away all of your fears_

_And I held your hand through all of these years_

_But you still have all of me_

"My Immortal" ~ Evanescence

* * *

"Hey Puck?" The very sound of the question made Puck's stomach shake and he hated it.

Puck had locked away the fear of the unknown, turning it into something much worse: hatred. It was almost against his will; almost a gut reaction. Anything different must be crushed. This continued well into high school until the very boy that had caused his fear became the subject of his torment.

So it would make sense for Artie to be afraid of him. Puck had to hand it to the boy that he hid it so well. They got along when they were in the same room, but Puck usually avoided Artie simply by sitting in the back of the choir room during practice. Last week, during the boy's mash-up, they talked occasionally and they were pretty OK with each other, but the fear was there.

Puck shrugged over at Santana, his current friend-with-benefits, and looked down curiously, "What's up?"

Artie waved Puck to follow him as he rolled towards the corner of the choir room. "I was wondering if you could come clean out my parent's pool?"

"What?" Puck almost snorted. "I didn't even know you had a pool."

"Yeah. I figured since you had that pool cleaning business last summer... you could, you know, clean it out."

"Why do you care about your parents' pool? I charge a lot for my services." Puck smirked. He didn't care about the pool, but maybe he could make a good fifty dollars off Artie's parents. And Mrs. Abrams was pretty hot.

"I'll pay you."

Puck studied the boy for a long moment. For the life of him, he didn't understand why, but Artie was serious.

* * *

"So where's the pool?" Puck smirked, walking up to Artie, sitting outside his house. He rose an eyebrow at Artie's tee-shirt and shorts as he pulled his bucket of supplied from his truck.

Artie smiled nervously at the tough boy. "It's back here, come on." He waved him on as he wheeled himself back towards a high wooden gate. Puck just watched curiously as Artie pulled down a hanging string and pushed the gate open. As the small boy rolled through the gate, Puck got a view of a large crescent shaped in-ground pool.

"Wow," Puck sucked in his breath, impressed by the crystal clear water before him. "How come you never told us about this? You should have pool parties or something."

"You never exactly gave me the chance until a few weeks ago," Artie rolled eyes, rolling up to the edge of the pool. "Anyway, your friends would probably just trash it. I wanna keep it clean."

"Why do you care?" Puck asked, setting down the bucket of supplies and studying the clear water. "And why did you hire me?"

Artie laughed and looked up at Puck. The boy shrugged, "This is where I come to get away. I love swimming."

Puck's mouth slipped open as his eyes fell on Artie's useless legs. "But... you can't..." His stomach was shaking. He had to look away.

"Yes, I can," Artie snorted. "If you weren't so distracted by your girlfriends, you would realize I'm not completely useless."

Puck's eyes shot up and met Artie's intense blue eyes. "What? I never-"

"It's pretty obvious," the boy shook his head, throwing off his tee-shirt. He shamelessly pulled his legs out from the footrest and leaned down to take off his shoes.

Puck looked out over the blue water. He still wasn't used to being so close to the boy in the wheelchair... Suddenly, he turned back to Artie and sighed, "do you mind if I jump in? You know, cool off a bit?" Puck shivered unwillingly.

"I don't care," Artie shrugged.

Puck just shrugged and threw his shirt aside. He dived smoothly into the water and remained submerged for a long moment, taking in the ethereal world of water. Finally, he surfaced and sucked in a huge gulp of air. Puck looked over at the edge of the pool, expecting to find Artie smiling sadly at him, but the wheelchair was empty.

Puck looked around frantically. What if this was his fault? What if Artie was hurt... or worse? His chest pounded, the water's reflection playing with his eyes. He couldn't forget his mandatory CPR training; that one wrong move could hurt the patient. But where was Artie? A few weeks ago, he was all too ready to flip Artie in a porta-potty, but now he was ready to save him. He took a deep breath and-

a brown haired boy came to the surface. "What's wrong?" the boy smiled widely, using his arms to buoy himself in the water.

"What the puck?" the larger boy shook horribly, but quickly shook it off. "I didn't see you jump in."

Artie just laughed and nodded to the other end of the pool. "I'll race you." With a chuckle, he took off towards the other side.

Puck shook his head and studied the boy's strong strokes as he glided towards the other side of the pool. And for once, it wasn't scary at all. Puck smiled absently when the boy turned around and egged Puck after him. Artie was strong, despite his disability. He could sing and play guitar and swim, just like anybody else. Puck swam confidently after Artie, desperate to catch up with his new found friend.

And when Mr. Schue announced the bake sale, Puck had two reasons to create pot-laced cupcakes. Because he wasn't lying when he told his Spanish teacher that he really liked Artie.


End file.
